In Michigan: Religious Leader say they will go to Jail, before supporting an Inclusive Civil Rights Act

More religious foolishness.

About 400 Michigan Pastors and Christian leaders got together on the steps on the State Capital in Lansing, Michigan and held a press conference over the addition of in opposition include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in the state's Civil Rights Act.

These bigots claim they will go to jail than to support the act. From their press release:

"We, the undersigned Christian Pastors of the State of Michigan declare our opposition to adding sexual orientation, gender identity or other similar designation to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act." -- Pastor Doug Levesque, Immanuel Baptist Church, Corunna, Michigan, reading a pastor's joint statement.

The Pastors said that legislation in other states that were allegedly intended to protect homosexuals actually ended up discriminating against people of faith, citing the recent case in Houston, Texas, where the sermons, notes, and text messages of pastors were subpoenaed by the mayor.

"The homosexual agenda is an anti-freedom movement which has led to the persecution of pastors and Christian business owners across the nation, whose freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being taken from them, under the guise of so called gay rights. There is nothing civil about that!"-- Minister Stacy Swimp, President, National Christian Leadership Council

"Those wanting special rights for sexual orientation are seeking to rewrite the traditional moral fiber of our society." -- Tim Berlin, senior pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Warren

"I don't know of another example of pastors' sermons being subpoenaed, except for in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. I find it ironic that the first example of that happening in America is from the LGBT community." -- Pastor R.B. Ouelette, First Baptist, Bridgeport, Michigan.

Blah, Blah, Blah! They go on and on about nothing, however I would like to see them go to jail for this. Let them pray their way through prison.

If you're curious, here's a link to their site and below is the press conference they held.

The Iowa Renewal Project are attempting to restore the Religious Right in Politics

A new (fake) group of religious freaks hosted a big meeting in Iowa, in hopes to force religion back into the government.

Nearly 400 Iowa ministers and many of their spouses accepted, filling a ballroom here on March 24 and 25. Through an evening banquet and long sessions, they heard speakers deplore a secular assault on evangelical Christian verities like the sanctity of male-female marriage, the humanity of the unborn and the divine right to limited government.


The program, sponsored by a temporary entity called the Iowa Renewal Project, featured several superstars of the Christian right as well as four possible Republican contenders for president. It was the latest of dozens of free, two-day conventions in at least 14 states over the past several years, usually with Mr. Huckabee listed as a co-sponsor, that have been attended by nearly 10,000 pastors who have spread the word in their churches and communities.


These meetings are part of a largely quiet drive to revitalize the religious right by drawing evangelical pastors and their flocks more deeply into politics — an effort given new energy by what conservative church leaders see as the ominous creep of laws allowing same-sex marriage and their sense that America is, literally, heading toward hell.

Even though the public's views of gay marriage is rapidly changing and more folks are moving away from religion, they still believe in forcing this mess to the country. It's very interesting how they have warped the simple teachings of the Bible into a hateful doctrine of discord. They are actively destroying the supposed messages of love and brotherhood. Is that example of God's love?

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My Top 5 Evil Religious Leaders in Horror

The Eddie Long drama has inspired this post.
Back in the day, some of the biggest surprises in horror movies were learning that religion or its leaders could be evil.

So here are my picks for Evil Preachers

Lester Lowe from Stephen King's Silver Bullet


Issac from Children of the Corn


Henry Kane from Poltergeist 2


Christabella from Silent Hill
 

Brother Justin Crowe from Carnivale

Pastor Bill Keller kicks off 9/11 Christian Center by Assailing Muslims and Mormons

Crackpot and Cultural terrorist, Pastor Bill Keller kicked off his 9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero today by attacking Muslims and Mormons.

But don't take my word for it, just listen to this false prophet


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Iowa's Clergy Basically becomes an Evil Supergroup against Gay Marriage

Want a clear example of why separation of Church and State exist? Look at Iowa.

Over 800 ministers presented a stupid petition threatening state political candidates to either ban Iowa's gay marriage law or lose their support in the election.

The petition, signed by 834 Iowa ministers, and an accompanying letter signed by social conservative groups declares that same-sex marriage "is defined by the Bible as immoral and sinful," and called for lawmakers to define marriage as between a man and a woman only.

The push against a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage comes a week before the June 8 primary election, and organizers made clear they want candidates to know they would pay a price if they oppose referring a constitutional amendment to voters that would overturn the court's decision.

The petition and letter, presented during a news conference on the steps of the Statehouse, is being sent to all candidates for the Legislature and statewide office, said Chuck Hurley, director of the Iowa Family Policy Center. The three Republican candidates for governor have taken slightly different positions on the gay marriage issue.

Each favors referring a constitutional amendment to voters, but Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats has gone a step further, declaring he would issue an executive order his first day in office blocking the decision.

I love how these ministers think this an important issue to push in the state. Never mind poverty, education or jobs, just ban gay marriage.

I still believe when churches cross this line like this, they should lose state and federal support.

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Rachel Maddow puts the 'Ugandan Kill the Gays' bill and ' The Family' on Blast

Last night, Rachel Maddow talked to Jeff Sharlet, author of 'The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power'.

If you don't know, The Family are GOPers who run C Street, a political bible study group or as I call it, a religious version of the Hellfire Club. This group may be responsible for the 'Kill the Gays' Bill.

Please watch this interview as Rachel starts to connect the dots.

Rick Warren: I Love Everybody

Please watch this mess.

He's saying this because he's under scrutiny for paling around with Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan pastor and anti-gay fiend.

You ain't slick, Ricky!

Nigerian Children are dying from False Claims of Witchcraft

This really gets me.

Evangelical Christianity in Nigeria is causing horrible abuse and wrongful deaths of children. Pastors are accusing children of witchcraft and putting them through "exorcisms" like pouring acid down their throats.

The worst part is the families allow this to happen. A growing number of children are dying like this.

Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files. Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises.

Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria. For their part, the families are often extremely poor, and sometimes even relieved to have one less mouth to feed.

Poverty, conflict and poor education lay the foundation for accusations, which are then triggered by the death of a relative, the loss of a job or the denunciation of a pastor on the make, said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund. "When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," he said. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."

This is really hard to think about. These children need help and support. I am hoping these mission groups save these kids.

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Gov. Paterson ain't feeling the Religious Leaders

Gov. Paterson is a bit tired of the religious leaders in New York running their mouths.

At the a gay marriage rally in Albany, Gov. Paterson said:

"You see, the fact is that for years these same individuals - many of them, not all of them, but many of them - who pronounced religious doctrine did not exercise it when young gay and lesbian students were being chastised for expressing their point of view. Where were these leaders of faith when college students of gay and lesbian orientation were beaten and often brutalized for expressing their feelings for each other? …

All I’m saying is: Why didn’t they speak about that at the time when it was the other way around? See what really makes a democracy work is when you speak for others rights even when you disagree with them. I’m saying most of the religious leaders that I hear speaking out now did not do it at the time. Had they done so I think they would have better moral standing to speak at this moment on this legislation even though I disagree with them."

And he's right...Where are they when stuff is really going on? When folks need real guidance are they available? And why do we only hear from them when gay marriage pops up? Do they even know what their role is?

I think it's time to deal with their foolishness by taxing the Hell out of them and their churches. They need to be put in their place. This is a way to get it started.

Why I think Religious Leaders Failed

The religious right leaders has admitted that their goal to remake our country in their image has failed. James Dobson, Rev Joe Morecraft and few others realized following Bush and playing foolish games cost them dearly.

But to me, this was a predictable defeat. There are reasons why their path lead them to a wall. The article in colored block has some reasons, but I will add more to their "fail" list.

• They got involved with politics. Jesus wasn't a fan of Politics.

• They did not have faith in their own God. They trusted politicians who would say any and everything to win.

• They fought for the wrong causes. Poverty, equal rights, love and education for all should have been the focus of these group, but no, they chose gay marriage and abortion. Those issues had nothing to do with the problems of the world.
  

• They let money rule everything around them. They didn't raise money to stop the war or to provide books in schools; they did it to fund some politician who dropped them as they were in office.

• They allowed crazies into their flock, quickly painting the religious group as mad and ignorant.

• And I think they forgot who Jesus was and what he stood for.

Their quest for power was their downfall. Maybe this time, these religious groups can really find a real reason for their existence. Their methods only fueled hate and foolishness. They should return to basics and promote love and social justice.

That's is WJWD.

In Fear of a Gay Friendly Country

My fellow blogger, Eric brought up how homophobic the GOP and others have been for the past several months (more than that). And I've been thinking the same thing.

This is what I've noticed:

• The Utah Legislature snuffed out 3 more gay-rights bills.

• In Gainesville, Christian groups placed an amendment on the ballot that will make it legal to fire and deny housing to LGBT folks.

• Sen. Scott Renfroe equate us to murderers and think we should but to death.

• Chris Buttars thinks we are just like radical Muslims.

• The National Organization for Marriage launched a web site and a group called the DOMA Defense Fund last month to raise money to keep the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from acknowledging same-sex marriages and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages enacted in other states.

• Oklahoma House passed a bill declaring the state sovereign from any rule of the federal government not mentioned in the Constitution. 8 other states are planning to do the same.

• Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, issued a statement pushing RNC chair, Michael Steele, to deny the Log Cabin Republicans a greater voice.

• In West Virginia, a website called, wv4marriage.com believes we are, THE GAY SNIPERS ready to attack straight families.

• Hawaii is now a battleground in the fight for same-sex civil unions.

• A Idaho state Senate committee killed a proposal to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Georgia state Rep. Charlice Byrd wants to fire every university professor who teaches such "disgusting" classes as queer theory.

And there's more, much more. It's so hard to believe that ignorance is that BIG and that serious right now. I know I sound naive, but the arrogance and hubris of these folks is very scary. What are these people afraid of? And how can they invoke God or the concept of love in anything they say?

I feel like we need to get prepared. Their attacks are coming harder and faster. As a people, we need to organize and stay aware. I think it will get worse as the year progess.